Riot announced this year that professional teams can now have substitute players throughout the season. Every team took the opportunity, even SK Telecom, who started experimenting subs for its Jungle, Support and Mid-lane roles.
With the role swaps, more diverse play styles were seen, and SKT organizers began seeing that with the team, the mid lane swapping harboured the most interesting and successful results.
SKT found a great strategy advantage by placing Easyhoon as a substitute for Faker, something that fans had divided opinions on, especially with the fact that the "god of LoL" would have lesser playtime.
The two players demonstrated different game styles. Faker is a game changer with his aggressive playing tactics, while Easyhoon can counter aggressiveness with his reserved game style.
Against teams that could counter Faker's aggressiveness, SKT has Easyhoon. For games that need a riskier gameplay in order to secure a win, Faker takes the stage.
Some fans are worried that Faker is getting lesser playing time, while others are able to appreciate the edge that SKT T1 was able to achieve because of this line up.
Fans continue to protest, asking that Faker should be the one playing every professional game of the team. However, SKT organizers will not listen to that call, especially since Easyhoon has been showing great performances and actually took the team to the Worlds this year.
Faker continues to prove his superiority and he remains the star and the money maker of the team, but Easyhoon is as valuable in-game for SKT. For as long as both continue to bring SKT to greater achievements, fans should not worry about losing any of them, according to Gosu Tech.
